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Summary
The German occupation of the Netherlands lasted until well into 1945. Following Allied offensives after D-Day in June 1944, part of the country in the south was liberated by the Allies in the autumn of 1944, followed by the east in 1945, but the provinces of North and South Holland and Utrecht, including main cities such as Amsterdam, remained occupied by the German army until it surrendered on 5 May 1945. The occupied area became an isolated German fortress.
During the final years of the war, the survivors of the groups of Nol and Ter had to remain in hiding. Ter called this ‘deep in hiding’. What the group members were thinking and doing during these two years was worded by Rosey Pool in New Year's Day 1943– 1944:
There were days, which shed clarity
On the old year in their own power,
Which gave it colour and shine despite
Worry, pain and fear and lethal danger.
There were days, which like gems
In dark surroundings and side by side
Shine like candles on a dark altar;
Days, which disappeared with you.
You: who gilded the days,
Which stand as flowers in the barren year,
You, who still fills hours with happiness,
Who courageously, quiet, with a trusted gesture
Smilingly endured the worst suffering,
Your departure broke the day's string.
There was sadness about loved ones, family members and friends who had been killed, arrested or deported and had already died. In The Shadow Rosey wrote about her mother:
For me you’re a never-ending screen,
Which shows all thought and action,
Whether I write, or dream, or hurt,
Or asked for you in fear and despair.
Survival became increasingly difficult. There was a growing food shortage, with biting hunger, and it was deadly during the last winter months. There was bitter coldness, because fuel was no longer available. There was constant dread about detection, betrayal, punishment and transport. There was loneliness. A seemingly never-ending nightmare, wrote Rosey in Awakening:
Another night gone: I’m relieved.
Gone hurting suspicion, certainty;
Carts are coming down the street,
In the dusk a flower hangs as ripe fruit.
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- Individuals and Small Groups in Jewish Resistance to the HolocaustA Case Study of a Young Couple and their Friends, pp. 113 - 120Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2022